Well, that was a long absence. Time to briefly dip the toes into the bloggy waters once again and fill in some of the gaps, methinks.
Since last posting, there's been a big change in the set up here following the Mister's move into a care home in the summer. It's been a challenging and emotional time on all sorts of fronts, still is in many ways, and sometimes it feels like I'm treading someone else's path.
But I'm gradually reconnecting with friends and picking up some of the threads of the old life that was put on hold for so long. I suppose I've become so used to being confined to base that it's taking some adjusting to the idea that I can go out pretty much whenever I want to.
One highlight was an evening visit early in December to Nightfall, a surprisingly fabulous light show in the park down the road.
Then, a few weeks ago, I managed a much needed short break in London which I'll write about in a separate post. Suffice to say it was hugely enjoyable.
The dog is adjusting to life with just me and the cats. He's now 12 and, with so many health problems and equipment, he is, as the Boy says, held together with sellotape. I'm now in charge of once daily walks and I can't say I particularly enjoy it. For starters, getting Boo ready to go out is a lengthy process and then there's too much sniffing for my liking. Every. Blade. Of. Grass. Drives me mad. But we somehow manage and the dog walking community is so friendly. Mostly.
We're all adjusting to the littlest in the family being no longer the littlest since the arrival of his baby brother in October. Despite the distance, me and the Boy have managed to visit him several times and my Girlie has taken him to meet the Mister. My word, he's a beaut. A very smiley beaut.
Now we're hurtling towards the festivities and the end of another year. It all feels rather strange in this period of adjustment and I'm more than usually disorganised. Lists are compiled and then ignored. I buy something and then realise I've already bought whatever it is. Oh, and I wish I could work out how to open the loft hatch to retrieve the Christmas decorations. A friend thought I'd deliberately left the tree bare, as some sort of statement. So here's a picture of the one in Covent Garden instead.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.